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Bill Murray Interrupted Jimmy Fallon's Monologue—and Showed Him How to Use a Proton Pack
"Just grab it like the ghosts know they're in trouble," original Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson chimed in.
The opening monologue is a key segment of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, but there's no time to waste when ghosts are lurking around.
That must've been what Saturday Night Live legend Bill Murray was thinking when he interrupted Host Jimmy Fallon's monologue during the March 15 episode. Murray was joined by fellow original Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson to promote the franchise's newest installment, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
"I think it's more important that people here find out a little more about the new Ghostbusters movie," Murray told Fallon after he ran out from behind the curtain.
Fallon agreed, but as the two walked over to Fallon's desk to start the interview, Murray realized he was missing Hudson. So he enlisted some audience volunteers to help find his fellow Ghostbuster, who turned out was still getting ready in the makeup chair backstage.
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After hustling Hudson onstage for their interview, Fallon asked them if they knew the first Ghostbusters was going to be a hit back when it was released in 1984.
"I actually did," Murray revealed. "We went to Thanksgiving dinner at the director Ivan Reitman's house, and he showed us an early cut of the first scene of capturing the first ghost. And it was so extraordinary that when we went back to work on Monday, the crew was like, 'We're ready.' And I was like, 'Relax everybody. We've got a big one here. We can all take our damn sweet time now. This is gonna be good.'"
Hudson didn't think it was going to be big until he watched an early screening of the first film.
"Bill knew, but the first time I saw it with an audience, something happened in the very beginning when Bill was interviewing the couple, something came over the audience," he recalled. "They were laughing out of control, and I knew that this was something beyond your normal film. I knew then that this was special."
The movie was huge, with Fallon reminding them, "Not only was Ghostbusters the number-one movie, but you also had the number-one song, the theme song "Ghostbusters" is fantastic," said Fallon. "Number one movie, number one song, you had the whole world watching and talking about Ghostbusters."
"We should have quit right then and there," joked Murray.
Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson give Fallon a proton pack lesson
Fallon then shared a clip from the 1984 "Ghostbusters" music video in which the cast danced through Times Square. Even though it was 40 years ago, Murray said he still remembered filming the video.
"People didn't know what the hell we were doing there," he recalled. "We just kept walking back and forth doing it. You know how there's a Naked Cowboy out there in Times Square? He was more interesting than we were. They were concerned about us... but we knew what we had so we didn't care."
Murray said he saw Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire for the first time at the New York premiere on March 14.
"It's going to be really big, folks," Murray said of the follow-up to 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife. "It's going to be a big sloppy movie that you're really going to like. It's really fun. It's really good,"
RELATED: Paul Rudd Reveals the (Literally) Uncomfortable Reality of Being a Ghostbuster
Fallon then got to live his Ghostbusters fantasy by trying on a proton pack, as the movie's stars helped him put it on over his suit.
"Hold it with authority," instructed Hudson, as he showed how Fallon how to grasp the wand. "Just grab it like the ghosts know they're in trouble. When you point it, the ghosts know to back the hell up. Put a little attitude into it."
Just remember, as Paul Rudd recently warned Seth Meyers, those proton packs can get heavy quickly.
